Tracey Edwardshttp://traceywritesbooks.com
in the pursuit of a rich lifeSun, 18 Feb 2018 02:07:40 +0000en-AUhourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.9.439486103How to Build an Emergency Fundhttp://traceywritesbooks.com/how-to-build-an-emergency-fund/
http://traceywritesbooks.com/how-to-build-an-emergency-fund/#respondThu, 01 Feb 2018 21:49:23 +0000http://traceywritesbooks.com/?p=1609In this post, I’m going over my tips on how to build an emergency fund. But before I jump into how much I suggest you need, first let’s look at what I mean by an emergency fund. Most people overestimate how much money they actually need in an emergency fund. An emergency fund is simply […]

]]>In this post, I’m going over my tips on how to build an emergency fund. But before I jump into how much I suggest you need, first let’s look at what I mean by an emergency fund.

Most people overestimate how much money they actually need in an emergency fund. An emergency fund is simply put, money that you’ve put aside to deal with any financial emergencies that crop up. It’s a rainy day fund so that you can use the cash you’ve saved, rather than have to borrow or use a credit card or the like.

It’s simply your financial buffer for when things go wrong.

And I think that’s important to keep in mind, because I feel a lot of people confuse their emergency fund with their regular savings, and they are and should be, completely different.

How much money do you need in your emergency fund?

So now we’ve established what an emergency fund is, how much money do you actually need in one?

There’s a lot of different opinions on this. Some people say that you need to save 6-8 months worth of expenses, others site smaller amounts.

Personally, I think 6-8 months is way too much. It’s not reasonable to expect most people can save up that amount just for an emergency fund.

If you think about what the purpose of an emergency fund is, and that’s to pay for financial emergencies that arise from your savings instead of your credit card, most of those types of emergencies just don’t cost thousands of dollars.

How much you actually need depends on your lifestyle and where you live. If you have a car, how much is, say, a new motor or other repairs typically? If you don’t, what sort of emergencies are you likely to encounter.

Once you figure out that, you can gauge how much you actually need.

But as a general figure, I think a range of between $500 and $2,000 is perfect for most people.

It’s enough that it’ll get you out of most financial emergencies that crop up, but not intimidating to try and save for.

Which account should you put your money?

Okay, so where do you keep it?

If a financial emergency does happen it means that you need to access that money really quickly.

So it needs to be in an account where you can get to it easily.

That could even be your regular everyday bank account or another account that’s easy to withdraw from an ATM.

Anywhere where you can get to it if you need it.

Don’t worry about interest rates or anything like that. That’s important for other savings accounts, but not for your emergency account. The primary importance of where to put your emergency fund is simply where you can get to quickly and easily if you need to.

Saving for your Emergency Fund

Saving for it is the same as saving for anything. I recommend you get to the minimum, $500 as quickly as you can so you have that buffer, and then you can gradually grow it over time to either one or two thousand dollars, depending on how much things cost in your part of the world.

If you can save $50 a week, you’ll get to $500 in just 10 weeks, but if you can only do $50 a month, that’s till just 10 months and by the end of the year you’ll have made the first step to a better financial future for yourself.

That’s it!

So to sum up, an emergency fund is simply a set amount of money, I recommend between $500 to $2000, that you save to take care of any financial emergencies that crop up so you don’t have to use your credit card. It should be in an easy to access bank account and you should try and get to $500 pretty quickly and then build up from there.

I hope this has helped you learn how to build an emergency fund so that you’ll be able to handle any financial mishaps that come your way in the future. Good luck!

—

New Release Alert!

Want to get notified when I write a new book? Enter your email here and I’ll let you know when the next one's published (and give you an amazing deal too).

]]>http://traceywritesbooks.com/how-to-build-an-emergency-fund/feed/01609A No Spend Year? Why Not Shopping for 12 Months Will Change Your Lifehttp://traceywritesbooks.com/no-spend-year/
http://traceywritesbooks.com/no-spend-year/#respondThu, 25 Jan 2018 23:30:19 +0000http://traceywritesbooks.com/?p=1600In my research for my no spend month which I’m starting in a few days, I’ve been reading about people who have taken the challenge to the next level and have just completed a no spend year. A whole year without any extra spending. And it changed their lives. Michelle McGagh did her own No […]

]]>In my research for my no spend month which I’m starting in a few days, I’ve been reading about people who have taken the challenge to the next level and have just completed a no spend year. A whole year without any extra spending. And it changed their lives.

Michelle McGagh did her own No Spend Year

Michelle McGagh, UK personal finance journalist from The Guardian completed a no spend year from Friday 27 November 2015 to 26 November 2016. She said, “The first six months were hard, but I found a new way of living and the challenge has left me wealthier and wiser.” Source.

She realized how much money she was spending on small incidental things. A drink at the pub, eating out at restaurants, and mindless shopping.

She used the extra money she saved to pay extra on her mortgage making a huge difference to the length of the loan and the satisfaction of knowing how much mortgage interest she’ll save.

She saved $37,100.

Michelle has written a book called The No Spend Year. There’s also a good TED Talk about her experience which I’ve included here.

But it’s not for everyone

Writer John McDermott, mostly out of frugal necessity, also tried living a no spend year. In describing his experience he said, “denying yourself any indulgence is a sad, lonely existence.” Source.

My social life was virtually nonexistent and my contentment gone with it. I often canceled plans and ended relationships prematurely because I viewed them as an impediment to my professional and financial goals. I vividly remember one idle Saturday afternoon when, not having any work to do (for once), I realized there were people in the city out having drinks with their friends, and that I didn’t even know where to begin going about making plans like that.

It made me profoundly sad.

It changed his life too. But not for the better. Sure he had a lot of extra income but at a cost.

And it’s here I have to agree.

I couldn’t do a no spend year.

One month I enjoy, but I plan for that. A week, or weekend, is doable for most everyone. A whole year is taking things too far. It’s extreme minimalism at it’s best, and while living below your means is something I believe strongly in, if it impacts your relationships to your personal detriment, well, that’s a line you shouldn’t cross.

I like having control over my finances. I like the power of being able to save money, earn money, invest and make money.

But I wouldn’t do a spending freeze for any longer than a few weeks at a time.

Especially not if it made me or my family miserable.

We all need that balance. And my life is exactly where I want it to be.

Could you quit shopping for a whole year?

Tracey

New Release Alert!

Want to get notified when I write a new book? Enter your email here and I’ll let you know when the next one's published (and give you an amazing deal too).

]]>http://traceywritesbooks.com/no-spend-year/feed/01600The No Spend Week. 5 Tips to Ease into your Savings Challenge (slowly)http://traceywritesbooks.com/no-spend-week/
http://traceywritesbooks.com/no-spend-week/#respondThu, 18 Jan 2018 23:25:28 +0000http://traceywritesbooks.com/?p=1589If you’re not ready to commit to a whole month, then why not try easing into your savings goal with a simple no spend week instead. Some people find the idea of quitting spending for a month daunting, but anyone can do a no spend week. It can be a good way of getting a feel for […]

]]>If you’re not ready to commit to a whole month, then why not try easing into your savings goal with a simple no spend week instead.

Some people find the idea of quitting spending for a month daunting, but anyone can do a no spend week. It can be a good way of getting a feel for how a bigger challenge, such as not spending for a month or even a year will impact your life.

So no fancy cafe coffee, no impulse purchases, drinks with your Tinder date will have to wait until next week, and so on. Basically, you need to padlock that purse up and commit to becoming the boss girl of your finances.

Here are 5 Tips for Smashing out a No Spend Week

Eat from your fridge/freezer first.

While groceries are allowed, challenging yourself to use up all of those meals that you squirreled away in your freezer that one time you got super motivated and meal prepped, is a great way to kickstart the week. You’ll even have fun figuring out which meat you used in the super healthy tomato stew dish you just defrosted.
Same goes for the veggie crisper. Throw all those wilted carrots into the crockpot with some stock, herbs, and chicken. Delicious and practically free.

Declutter.

No spend weeks are seriously excellent times to go through cupboards and donate or sell your unwanted goods. You might make some serious cash with that designer handbag you thought was a good idea five years ago but haven’t used since.

Find free alternatives to your favorite things.

Instead of going to the cinema, have a movie night at home. Love reading books? Join your local library. You might only need to go there once if they have an ebook service like Overdrive where you can borrow ebooks for free. What’s your favorite thing? Drinks with friends? Hang out at a park instead. There are plenty of free or low-cost alternatives to whatever is your thing, you just have to look.

Check your local area for events.

I’m always surprised by how many free events that our local council puts on. Especially around school holidays. Jumping castles, book readings, boot camps.
Same goes for the big shopping malls. As long as you avoid actually shopping, you can often watch bands play, sample free taste-testing, or find something for the kids to do. Over Christmas, our local mall had face painting (for the kids – not me), Carols, Fireworks and more. Just for hanging out.

Decide what to do with your savings.

Having a goal in mind for the money you’ll save is the best motivation. Whether it’s to pay down debt or save for something special, know your reason why. That reason is what will keep you strong when you get tempted to buy that super healthy green juice (find out the ingredients and make it yourself at home instead).

You Can Do It!

A week isn’t that long, but it could be the motivation to start a lifetime of better spending habits. Gaining control over your money is one of the most important things you can do to ensure a better future.

Good luck for your challenge.

Let me know your tips below.

Tracey

New Release Alert!

Want to get notified when I write a new book? Enter your email here and I’ll let you know when the next one's published (and give you an amazing deal too).

]]>http://traceywritesbooks.com/no-spend-week/feed/01589Your No Spend Month for 2018 – Are You Up for the Challenge? (Tips)http://traceywritesbooks.com/no-spend-month/
http://traceywritesbooks.com/no-spend-month/#respondThu, 11 Jan 2018 22:11:56 +0000http://traceywritesbooks.com/?p=1573I try to do a No Spend Month every year. For me, the tradition started seven years ago and I have only skipped one year since. It has improved my finances significantly. I wrote a book about my experiences in 2011, and while the book 30 Day Spending Detox, is a little outdated now, I […]

I try to do a No Spend Month every year. For me, the tradition started seven years ago and I have only skipped one year since. It has improved my finances significantly. I wrote a book about my experiences in 2011, and while the book 30 Day Spending Detox, is a little outdated now, I thought I’d update my thoughts and give you some tips and advice for doing your own spending freeze.

This year I’m doing my no spend challenge in February.

Why February?

I like to do the challenge early in the year. It gives a good foundation to the rest of the year and sets up more mindful financial goals as the year progresses.

January is too busy (and can get expensive) with school going back (in Australia), therefore I chose February. I don’t have any major birthdays or anniversaries. It’s a clear month. And a short one. So it makes a good month to stop spending.

Why Do a No Spend Month?

For some, spending is out of control. We buy things without much thought.

If we need a new lipstick – no problem, let’s buy one. Even though we have a make-up bag full of them already. We reason with ourselves. I don’t have that new shade of lipstick. It’s on sale. I need it for that date/job interview/Sunday brunch.

Consumerism has become a way of life. It’s become normal to constantly buy new things.

It’s eroding our savings and putting us into debt.

Debt was the reason I started the challenge back in 2011. Today it’s to build my savings, remain in control of my finances, and be a more responsible consumer.

Seven years ago it was weird to stop spending for a month. These days it’s acceptable and even encouraged. We’ve become more socially conscious and financially aware. And who doesn’t love a challenge?

Short-term benefits

The most obvious short-term benefit is that you’ll save money, which can help with your savings goal or for paying down debt.

You might also find that you have more free time. The peace from stepping out of the shopping hustle can be enlightening. Or not. You could crave to get back to the mall again once the challenge finishes. You’ll find that out soon.

After the No Spend Month Challenge is over you’ll start to think more mindfully about every new purchase you make. You went without for a month. Do you really need this new thing? Sometimes the answer will be yes, sometimes it will be no.

Which means you’ll have power over your spending habits. Control. That can give you tremendous confidence that you can get out of whatever financial situation you’re in, or save for that big thing.

Whether you save $100 or $1000, you’ll learn a lot about yourself and you will be paving the road for a better future.

That’s why I still do one every year.

Are you with me?

Rules of the No Spend Challenge

This isn’t about starving or stop paying your electricity bill. Those items are necessary.

It’s about all the other stuff.

What’s in:

You will still need to pay for accommodation, so rent or mortgage payments on your regular living place are obviously in.

Fixed cost and other utility bills. You’ll need gas and electricity.

Food from the grocery store. You’ll be making all your meals this month.

Gas/Petrol for your car. But only for necessary trips. Either stay home or walk/bike as much as possible.

Internet/Cable/Netflix/Phone. Since this challenge is only for one month, there is no need to cancel your current services. However, you still might want to look at your usage to see if you are on the best plan.

What’s out:

All your other spending:

Dining out/Takeaway. That includes cafe-bought coffee. You’ll be making your lunch for work/school. Having home-cooked meals every night which either you or someone else in your family will help prepare. And drinking coffee you make yourself (thank goodness for gifted coffee machines – amiright?)

Alcohol. I know. It’s only for a month. Think how healthy you’ll feel at the end.

Clothes, shoes, accessories. You have enough.

Household decorative items, furniture, kitchen gadgets. You have enough. If you need something desperately then improvise until the month is over. It’s okay to boil water in the microwave if your jug dies for a few weeks.

Body care, makeup. This is my weakness. I love a good scented body lotion. I, I mean You have enough.

Books, movies, apps. Borrow from the library or read/watch the ones you already have. Don’t spend money on in-app purchases.

Entertainment. You have television, Netflix (probably), internet and more than enough free entertainment to get you by. You might even have other people living in your house. Talk to them.

I’m sure there is plenty more, but you get the idea. Essentials only, everything else is out. No spending on anything you don’t legally have to.

Did I mention that this challenge is going to be fun?

You can do this.

Preparation

Before you jump into your No Spend Month it’s a good idea to prepare. Planning in advance can help your spending detox to go much smoother.

That doesn’t mean spending up big now, it does mean doing things like making meal plans, searching for free things to do around your city, browsing Pinterest for fun activities to do at home.

There are Facebook groups dedicated to taking it further. Use-it-up challenges, decluttering challenges, minimalist challenges, cooking from home ideas, pan-that-pallette challenges. Even good ol’ low or no spend challenges. Being about to talk to others who are doing the same thing with the same goals is incredibly motivating.

Prepare by telling your family and friends that you’ll be doing the challenge. That way they can be in on it with you. Even if they aren’t doing in themselves, they might encourage you and help you. Before my first challenge, I used to meet up with a friend at a coffee shop. Once the challenge started, we went to each other’s houses instead. We still met up, just at a more frugal location.

How Much Money Can You Save in a Month?

How much money you can save during your no spending challenge varies on several factors including lifestyle, geography, age, and reasons for doing it.

A single person in a one bedroom apartment in the city is going to have very different expenses to a four-person family in the suburbs.

Geography plays a huge factor too. Housing, food, transportation, are vastly different around the world. Even from state to state, or city to city.

The first time I did the challenge, I saved $2,000 (helped by selling unwanted items on eBay). I was hugely motivated at the time and even went so far as turning off appliances in stand-by mode. My reasoning was that every cent helps. And it did. For a long while after I became very frugal. I was determined to pay down my debt. And I did. Within a few months.

I’ve relaxed somewhat over the years as my needs have changed, but I still do a spending challenge once a year if I can. Now I can save a few hundred dollars to a thousand or so by not spending. My motivation isn’t as serious now, and my expenses and location have changed since the first time.

Now it’s about growing my savings. I credit the first No Spend Month Challenge as the catalyst to get my financial life back on track.

How much will you save?

You won’t know unless you do it. Most people that have emailed me have saved between $500 to $1000. Some less, one person significantly more.

So why not try?

I’ll be doing mine in February.

Want to join?

Tracey

P.S. I’ll be writing more articles on this topic, including ways to make a few extra bucks, tips to save at the grocery store, what to do going forward and more. Stay tuned.

New Release Alert!

Want to get notified when I write a new book? Enter your email here and I’ll let you know when the next one's published (and give you an amazing deal too).

Email

Please wait ...

Thank you for sign up!

Tracey

Other No Spend Month Resources

Here are more great articles on the web which have tips for doing a no spend month challenge:

]]>http://traceywritesbooks.com/no-spend-month/feed/01573Getting back to writing Non-Fiction books after SEVEN yearshttp://traceywritesbooks.com/writing-non-fiction-books-after-seven-years/
http://traceywritesbooks.com/writing-non-fiction-books-after-seven-years/#commentsMon, 11 Dec 2017 02:54:55 +0000http://traceywritesbooks.com/?p=1559For the past seven years, I’ve been writing fiction. I started with short reads and progressed to novels. Right now I’ve written twenty-six novels and a bunch of novellas and short stories under four different pen names. It was a cool side-hustle. I did it for fun and profit. Some years I made good money, […]

I started with short reads and progressed to novels. Right now I’ve written twenty-six novels and a bunch of novellas and short stories under four different pen names.

It was a cool side-hustle. I did it for fun and profit. Some years I made good money, other years – not so much. I was lucky that I didn’t need that money to support myself. I had good investments and a partner that worked. So if I had a bad month. It hurt my ego, but I could still put food on the table. No big deal.

That was probably why I never took it too seriously. I had other life things going on and no real need to turn my ‘hobby’ into a business. Plus I was never really good at fiction. Mediocre at best, and really, who needs another mediocre romance novel?

Life doesn’t always flow in a straight line. There were a lot of changes in 2017 for me and while I still have those good investments (thank you past-Tracey) I don’t have the luxury of my partner’s income anymore. I’m on my own and I have little’s to support.

So in 2018, I’m returning to my roots. I’m going to write non-fiction again. It’s a better fit for me as I understand the business of non-fiction better than fiction. I have experience in the marketing side of it. It comes more naturally to me.

What will I be writing about?

I’ll start with some finance and business books since that is what I know best, but I also have plans to expand into writing or entrepreneurial books as well. Maybe even some minimalism and general life advice.

Right now I’m outlining a book on budgeting which I’ll start writing in January. Think short snappy bite-sized chunks of good advice at a great price.

I’m also toying with the idea of starting a YouTube channel to support my books and ideas. I haven’t quite made my mind up on that yet, mostly because getting in front of a camera is hella scary. It’s on my mind though. Maybe.

Will I be okay?

Yep.

I’m in a good headspace. Better than good in fact. I’m feeling super pumped and excited about the future and this new direction for me.

It’ll be great to get out there again and do what I love best. Plus I’m getting back into the stock market. I’d forgotten just how much I love it. Those little stocks and their crazy erratic jumps and dips. LOVE IT (mostly the jumps).

What now?

Expect to see more posts here that tie into the books I’ll be writing.

I did consider starting a new blog, but in the end, decided here was more appropriate. It’s an established site and while I haven’t written on business per se, it’s got some cred on making money with books so isn’t too much for Google to freak out over with the slight change in direction.

Plus the branding is good and I couldn’t think of another web address I liked that wasn’t already taken.

That’s it.

You’ll be hearing more from me in the next few weeks and starting January, more posts that will support the books I’m writing.

]]>http://traceywritesbooks.com/writing-non-fiction-books-after-seven-years/feed/21559Weeks 3 & 4 – Nanowrimohttp://traceywritesbooks.com/weeks-3-4-nanowrimo/
http://traceywritesbooks.com/weeks-3-4-nanowrimo/#respondSun, 26 Nov 2017 03:20:06 +0000http://traceywritesbooks.com/?p=1550It’s the home stretch. Only a few more days to drag yourself over the Nanowrimo finish line. If you’re like me (don’t be like me) then you’ve left most of the words for the last night week. It can still be done, my friends. Oh, yes it can. But how? How am I meant to […]

It’s the home stretch. Only a few more days to drag yourself over the Nanowrimo finish line. If you’re like me (don’t be like me) then you’ve left most of the words for the last night week.

It can still be done, my friends. Oh, yes it can.

But how? How am I meant to write 30,000 words in just one day week?

Coffee. And fingers to the keyboard.

It doesn’t even matter what you write anymore, just write. Write like Superman/woman/person flying to rescue a school bus of children that has fallen off a bridge. You have to make it. It’s your duty. Otherwise, the actor’s in the movie might die. Just do it!

Ahem. Maybe I have had too much of the ol’ cider coffee.

Anywaaaaaay ….

Last week of Nanowrimo

Divide the word count you still need to hit into four days (or however many days you’ve got left until the 30th). That’s your goal for the next few days.

If you did the pre-planning for Nanowrimo, then you know a lot of what you need to write. You’ve got your conclusion and possibility your closing scenes. You’ve got your transition into Act 3. It’s time to fill in the gaps with whatever exciting thing that makes sense for your genre.

Can’t think of anything? Make something up. You’re an author, baby. You can do it.

It doesn’t matter if it stays in. No-one is going to care. It’s the first draft. So don’t second-guess yourself. Write like it’s just practice and no one will ever read it, it takes the pressure off. Play with ideas through your fingers.

And who knows? Maybe your scene ramblings actually turn out to be pretty great because you’re no longer critiquing yourself, and you’re letting your muse take over.

It’s magic when that happens.

I’m stuck

The simple advice I have for you is to write and aim to finish. Don’t self-censor, just have fun. It’s a game that you can win. Because if you do, you get a nice sense of satisfaction.

But if you don’t. It doesn’t matter. Nano doesn’t care. Your dog doesn’t care. So don’t care yourself. You got at least some words down.

]]>http://traceywritesbooks.com/weeks-3-4-nanowrimo/feed/01550Week 2 – Nanowrimohttp://traceywritesbooks.com/week-2-nanowrimo/
http://traceywritesbooks.com/week-2-nanowrimo/#respondWed, 08 Nov 2017 02:46:59 +0000http://traceywritesbooks.com/?p=1526 It’s week two of Nanowrimo and the sludge of writing every day is kicking in. (So much so, that I actually nearly almost forgot to write this blog post). Week one is easy. You’re motivated, you’re kicking word goals, and you’re feeling like JK Rowling at the local coffee shop. #winning But it’s week […]

It’s week two of Nanowrimo and the sludge of writing every day is kicking in. (So much so, that I actually nearly almost forgot to write this blog post).

Week one is easy. You’re motivated, you’re kicking word goals, and you’re feeling like JK Rowling at the local coffee shop. #winning

But it’s week 2. Eergh.

You’ve hit the 25% mark and while you still like your book (mostly), it’s starting to feel a little drudgery.

Never fear, goodly writer, I’ve got something to help perk up those creative juices (no, I did not mean powdery things from the dark web), I mean PLOT IDEAS. Or challenges. Or, I don’t know. Humour me.

Okay. So this week is about writing ACT 2A. Your characters have passed the point of no return and are thrust into the upside down. Time to get them to your big honking middle scene that you figured out in planning. (You haven’t thought of a middle yet? That’s okay. The idea is to make the middle the big turning point, the big reveal, the big sex scene (you’ve heard of sex at 60 right? (60 being the midpoint of a movie)).

This is it. THE BIG ONE that isn’t as BIG BIG as the climax BIG but still fucking BIG.

So what about the lead-up?

Since you’ve got to get your characters to the middle, you need a clear path to get them there. But hey, don’t make things easy.

Mess some shit up.

Bring back an ex. Kill a beloved pet (*sob*). Have that magic item they find not work *yet*. Destroy evidence. Discover your headmaster is now a zombie. Doesn’t matter.

Make it fun.

Make it the reason people picked up your book. Tropey? Sure. Amp it up.

And lead your characters (and your readers) right to the crazy middle scene you already figured out.

This is a time where you can go a little cray, laugh or cry as you write, turn up the emotion. Bring the beautiful.

Include all five senses in as often as you can. Sight, smell, hearing, taste, touch. (Not only will it get your word count up, it’ll deepen the scene). Close your eyes. See it. Write it.

1,666 words every day.

At the end of the week you get to write the middle. Oh boy, think about how much fun you’re going to have writing THAT scene.

]]>What’s scarier than Halloween? The fact that Nanowrimo starts tomorrow and you’ve just committed to writing 50,000 words in 30 days.

*shudder*

Never fear. I’ve got a plan and we’re going to slay this mofo. You’ve done your basic story planning already – you know what you’re going to write.

Now it’s time for WORDS.

Week 1 = Act One

Act One of your story covers approx the first 25%. It’s the set-up. The before. The world from which your protagonist/s are soon going to get sucked out of. It’s nice and safe (but not boring!).

From your planning, you have a rough idea of your opening scene and what messy interesting stuff is going to splat onto the pages.

You also know the transition scene that takes your protag/s into Act 2A.

Let’s make it easy on ourselves. We know we have to write 1667 words per day. Let’s make each of those days a chapter. So Day 1 = Chapter 1.

Chapter 1 might be one long scene or two or three shorter ones. Doesn’t matter. 1667 is all you need to focus on hitting.

Stuck? Here’s a good basic roadmap.

Day/Chapter 1 – Intro main protag with a hook. They need to be their ‘before’ selves, but they also need to be interesting (or in an interesting situation). Don’t be boring. In fact, this scene is one of your most important. That’s why I had you brainstorm it earlier. Reel that sucker reader in.

Day/Ch 2 – Intro the other characters. If it’s a romance, this will be your meet-cute so we get to see the other half (unless your meet-cute was in Chapter 1 which can totally work too).

Day/Ch 3 – Someone suggests a change for our protag. Maybe a friend. Or a mentor. Or the chatty guy at the coffee stand. Doesn’t matter. Protag wants to be good but doesn’t think THAT suggestion is right for them.

Day/Ch 4 – Protag is dead against any change in their life. Dig those high heels in. Add a big action set. It’s midway through Act 1. Have fun with it.

Day/Ch 5 – Oh shit. Whatever protag did in Chapter 4 has seriously f’d up the nice safe life they had. They want to fix it. They attempt to. And, hell no, it didn’t work.

Day/Ch 6 – In fact. It might have just made things worse. You see, protag has seen that possibly, maybe, sort of, the suggestion friend/mentor made in Ch 3 might actually be what they need to do. Not that they want to. But they might try it. Reluctantly. Just to see …

Day/Ch 7 – Break into Act 2. This is the chapter that will drag your characters into the upside down. No not Stranger Things (by the way – how good is Season 2! – OMFG!), but your characters new world. Doesn’t have to be a literal new world of course, but it’s got to be different to their nice safe existence. You’ve already planned this scene out. You’ve made it big and memorable. End the week on a big fun high note (and then get back to writing.)

Congrats. You’ve just written the first draft of Act 1. You should have about 11669 words – give or take.

Week 0 – Getting Ready.

It’s time now to start your plan of attack. Get your pens sharpened and your coffee spiked.

We need to slay this bitch and that means a measly 1667 words a day from the 1st to the 30th. That’s nothing. We’re writers. We know how to hustle. We know how to sit on our asses for days on end. WE GOT THIS!

But hell, what are we going to write about?

Good question. Who gives a fuck? In all likelihood, we aren’t going to publish this sucker we’ll put it under a pen name so no-one knows it’s us. This isn’t about that. It’s about being part of a team. Pretending you have friends, even if they’re other introverted writers who you’ll likely never meet in real life, that are doing the same shit as you are. Every day in November. It’s comforting to belong to a group.

But of course, we like to pretend that we’re the next Sarah J Maas. So that means we need to get some planning down on paper. Or at least in our heads where most of us live anyway.

Genre. Characters. Big Plot events. What you need to do NOW.

That’s your mission friends. You’ve got 50,000 words to write in November and unless you want to be a badass ninja author (yaas!) and turn up on the first day with no clue (wearing pants or not – no judgement), it’s time to write a few notes.

What are you writing? Romance, Thriller, Zombie farm animals? Scratch down a few tropes that you need to hit.

Major characters? Juice up your major imaginary friends with some flesh and characteristics. Do they limp? Start every sentence with, Yeah but? Have a penis piercing? Who are they? And why would a reader care?

Act breaks? Think about your three major act breaks and what big event should take place. End of Act 1 (25%), Middle (50%) and end of Act 2 (75%). Think of something big. Make it bigger. Then make it bigger again. Don’t be boring. Shock the hell out of your reader.

Beginnings and Endings? Your first chapter is the one that needs IMPACT. What’s going to grab your reader by the balls and drag them screaming in pain through the rest of your story? How’s it going to end? Are you a plot twist writer? (I need your secrets) Are you an emotional writer? (angst it up to extreme). Are you both? (why are you doing Nano, you’re obviously already killing it?)

The rest?

The rest of the story will come later. Right now we only need the turning points and basics so we have a roadmap.

Get it down. On paper. In Scrivener. On the wall of your basement dungeon. Make that plan lit.

That’s all you need to do this week.

I’ll be back on Wednesday with what to do in Week 1, the easiest week in Nanowrimo writing (everyone slays the first week, it’s the rest that are the problem).

]]>http://traceywritesbooks.com/lets-slay-nanowrimo-part-1/feed/21500Do Instafreebie Subscribers Buy Books?http://traceywritesbooks.com/instafreebie-subscribers-buy-books/
http://traceywritesbooks.com/instafreebie-subscribers-buy-books/#commentsThu, 23 Mar 2017 00:50:12 +0000http://traceywritesbooks.com/?p=1423I know it’s easy to get a lot of subscribers in a short amount of time using Instafreebie. Especially so if you get involved in cross promotions with other authors. What I really wanted to know, however, is do Instafreebie subscribers buy books or are they just there for the free stuff? I’ve heard results […]

]]>I know it’s easy to get a lot of subscribers in a short amount of time using Instafreebie. Especially so if you get involved in cross promotions with other authors. What I really wanted to know, however, is do Instafreebie subscribers buy books or are they just there for the free stuff? I’ve heard results from both camps.

First, an update on subscriber numbers.

I did one promo on List 2, but nothing since.

I still find it interesting that without promo you can gain subscribers. I haven’t done any promo on List 1, yet it’s up to 129 subs in two months. It really is no effort list building.

But do they buy?

Yes. But not in huge numbers.

I sent a new release email to List 3 – a total of 2,571 subscribers at the time. Price was reduced to $0.99 for the first week and I made it clear they didn’t need to have read the other books as they worked as standalones.

Caveat. I wasn’t expecting great results for this book anyway since it’s the third in a dying series. I made huge mistakes with this series: the first book came out over a year ago, the second book was rushed and people did not like it AT ALL, and so the third (which I actually really enjoyed) didn’t have much of a chance. I’d also pulled this series out of KU late last year, further narrowing the market, which I now realise was a mistake for new releases in this genre. I did need to finish the series though so I could close it off and start work on something more lucrative and to market.

Anyway.

Clickthrough. Firstly subscriber engagement came right down. Last month I had 70.6% opens and 45.9% clicks. This campaign it’s down to 46% opens and 23.4% clicks.

Most of those clicks went to another link to free books which I placed at the bottom of the email.

156 clicks went to my new book. This was spread across Amazon, Apple, Kobo & Google Play since the series is wide. No clicks to Barnes & Noble, interestingly.

This resulted in approximately 25 sales that I can attribute to this email (based on extra sales above what I had been normally getting on this book). 25 sales @ 35 cents ($0.99 x 35%) = $8.75. Hmm. Since I’m paying $20 a month to have Instafreebie, this is clearly not profitable.

However, like I said, if this book had been in KU I feel it would have been significantly better. And I did see a flow through to the other books in the series, so there is that too.

Quick Note. Sending a blast like this can cause a lot of unsubscribes at once. Mailchimp will send you a nasty email if you get close to 10% unsubs. I was nervous about this.

From this campaign I got 162 unsubscribes and 4 abuse reports. YIKES! Fortunately that still fell under the threshold and I didn’t get a warning, however it did make me mindful about what content to send them in the future.

So, obviously, I sent another email. This time a poll.

Polling your audience to find out if they buy or not.

Now I was curious. I needed to know my audience better, so I set up a poll on Google Forms.

I put up the cover of a new book I’m working on and asked them what they would pay for it.

Out of 1200 emails I sent to List 2, I had 90 responses (so far). I also had a few extra people email me with their results because they didn’t want to click the link. LOL. Of those that responded, the vast majority do buy, but primarily at lower prices.

Over 70% of respondents would pay for the book. That’s encouraging (also because this new book is nearly finished and I’ve set expectations on price up front).

To be clear though, that’s 70% of those that responded, not from the whole list. (I had another 4-5% unsub from this email blast too). Still I’m happy with that, especially as these readers weren’t organic and are only on my list because of free books.

I did find it interesting that there weren’t as many respondents in KU as I thought, unless some of them are, but chose another option instead. Hmmm.

Conclusion

It’s no surprise that the majority of Instafreebie subscribers are those that only read free books. They don’t care about you or your newsletters and will unsubscribe if they aren’t interested. However, the difference between these subscribers and getting subs from a competition to win something (for example), is that these subs are actual readers, not competition junkies. That’s a huge difference. That means you can, potentially, turn them into fans.

And that’s encouraging.

So much, in fact, that I’m still on board with Instafreebie. I’m sure the effectiveness will wane in the future, like all good promo tools do, but for now, I’m still invested and will continue to use them until I feel the costs outweigh the benefits.